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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385279">Deals With Detectives</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaderNotWriter1996/pseuds/ReaderNotWriter1996'>ReaderNotWriter1996</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Won’t Take Your Money. [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes &amp; Related Fandoms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bisexual Character, Bisexual Greg Lestrade, Bribery, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Job Interview, London, Mycroft Being Mycroft, Mystrade (if you squint), Police, Pre-Season/Series 01, Prequel, Protective Mycroft, Rated T for swearing, Smoking, unbetaed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 02:14:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,122</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24385279</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaderNotWriter1996/pseuds/ReaderNotWriter1996</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You didn’t think that John Watson was the first person offered money to spy on Sherlock Holmes did you? </p><p>Before John Watson had even heard the name Sherlock Holmes, Greg Lestrade is approached in a police smoking shelter and offered a rather usual deal. </p><p>  <em>Letting his eyes sweep over the man in front of him Greg took in the fancy shoes, slightly covered by the trousers of an expensive three piece suit. A thick black coat, that looked just as expensive as the suit, completed the ensemble. Black leather gloves covered slender hands, one of which was loosely gripping the handle of a slim black umbrella. Overall the entire outfit probably cost more than Lestrade made in a year.</em></p><p>  <em>"Something I can help you with?" Greg kept his posture stiff, his arms moving to cross tightly across his chest.</em></p><p>  <em>"What is your relationship with Sherlock Holmes?" </em></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>I Won’t Take Your Money. [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1760827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Deals With Detectives</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/1330114">Human Remains</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saziikins/pseuds/Saziikins">Saziikins</a>.
        </li>

    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lestrade leaned against the hard clear plastic wall of the station's battered old smoking shelter. Hunching his shoulders, a vague attempt to keep himself warm. The shelter may be blocking out the biting wind but it was doing nothing for the lingering chill in the air. A lit cigarette was dangling from the hand that rested by his side, his other hand stuffed low into his trouser pocket. There was a box of nicotine patches in his locker, but so far he hadn't been able to bring himself open it. The cold was making him rethink that decision right now. Plus Laura wouldn't be happy if she smelt the smoke on him when he got home, she’d been begging him to quit since they’d gotten married, almost nine months ago now, but with no success. It was hard to kill a nearly 10 year old habit. Knocking the ash from his cigarette, Greg watched as the breeze pulled on the dancing flakes, turning and swirling the ash before finally allowing it to float to the ground. His break would be almost over by now. No time to grab one last cup of coffee before the interview. <em>Detective Inspector</em>. Who was he kidding? He had no shot at the job. His commanding officer had admitted as much, telling Greg they were only interviewing him to make up the numbers.</p><p>Taking one last, long drag into his lungs, Lestrade felt the warmth radiating in his chest. Forcing back some of the October chill that had begun to settle over London. Checking his watch before he threw the cigarette away he saw he’d been correct, he was due in for the interview in 5 minutes. Flicking the butt of his cigarette out of his hand and onto the ground outside of the shelter, he could almost hear Donovan's exasperated voice asking him why he didn't just stub it out in the bin like a normal person, rather than stomping on it and having to pick it up. But there was just something so satisfying about grinding the cigarette into the ground with his boot. Pushing himself up off of the clear plastic walls Lestrade hadn't even taken one step towards the still smouldering cigarette, when a neatly polished, and by the look of it very expensive, dress shoe, stepped out and twisted the smoking butt into the concrete. Letting his eyes sweep over the man in front of him Greg took in the fancy shoes, slightly covered by the trousers of an expensive three piece suit. A dark blue tie and intricate tie clip could be seen beneath the lapels of a thick black coat that looked just as expensive as the suit. Black leather gloves covered slender hands, one of which was loosely gripping the handle of a slim black umbrella, helped to complete the entire ensemble. Overall the entire outfit probably cost more than Lestrade made in a year. Eventually Greg's brown eyes rose to meet the blue ones of the man in front of him. Though by no means ugly the man in front of him would never have been considered conventionally attractive. With his hooked nose and piercing eyes there was something distinctly menacing about him, an air of superiority. Three or four years ago, before he’d met Laura, this guy might have actually been Greg's type, majorly out of his league, but his type non the less.</p><p>"Something I can help you with?" Greg kept his posture stiff, his arms moving to cross tightly across his chest, surreptitiously glancing at his watch while he could. The seconds seemed to be ticking by faster than normal, but that could just be his nerves. He prayed this wouldn’t take long. The stations smoking shelter was situated at the rear of the building, on the opposite side of the staff car park. Not many of the officers used it, preferring to huddle by the doorway but it meant that  this guy was here for a reason, this area was generally off limits to the general public, and given that there was no one else out here it seemed unlikely the man was here for someone else. The other guy didn't speak for a few seconds, simply looked Greg up and down, sizing him up as it were. It was a basic technique to establish superiority, he'd learnt that during a seminar on interrogation techniques. Next the guy would start with a completely different conversation starter. An attempt to direct the conversation the way he wanted. And sure enough.</p><p>"What is your relationship with Sherlock Holmes?" There it was. The other mans voice was clear and flat. Not a hint of emotion, in fact he sounded almost bored. Greg shifted his eyes once more in a quick glance towards the the station entrance. He didn’t have time for this. Especially if it concerned Lestrade’s newest pain in the arse.</p><p>Sherlock Holme had turned up at one of Lestrade’s crime scenes a little over three months ago, high as a kite, but with the ability to solve the case after a mere passing glance at the incident and from behind the police tape. Giving Greg the complete who, what, when, where and why within 10 minutes of his arrival and before the Detective Sergeant himself had even looked at the crime scene. At the time Greg had of course dismissed it for what he assumed to be the ramblings of a junkie, and yet Sherlock had been right with every deduction. Of course a few days later Sherlock made an appearance at another crime scene. Same deductive reasoning, same outcomes. Their third encounter had been at the station. Sherlock had cornered him in this very shelter and they’d made a deal. For every week Sherlock remained sober, Lestrade would give him a case to work on. He’d started him off with closed cases. Blacked out names, with just scenarios and code names. This way there was very little danger to the police department and no real negative repercussions. It seemed like a safe place to start. Most of the information from those cases was public already so there didn’t seem to be much harm in letting Holmes have a look to see how fast he could solve the. Though this last week he’d given Sherlock some cold cases to work on, the department wasn’t getting anywhere with them and Greg figured another pair of eyes could only help in getting them solved. Regardless, what he was doing would still get him in a shit load of trouble is anyone found out so he wasn’t about to go blabbing about it to just anyone.</p><p>“Barely know the bloke” he replied, which was true. Lestrade unfolded his arms to rest his hands on his hips, hoping to convey his agitation “Haven’t seen him in days” Which was also true, though that hadn’t stopped Sherlock from texting him almost constantly since Lestrade had gifted him his newest cold case. Apparently this one wasn’t interesting enough and he was demanding another. To which Greg’s response had been ‘<em>not until you solve it</em>’. He’d sent that just before coming outside and expected an answer before the end of the day. </p><p>“It is very important to me that your work with Sherlock Holmes continues” The other man was giving nothing away. Still maintaining an air of boredom that made it look like he thought himself too important for this meeting. An attitude that immediately agitated Lestrade. He had better places to be than in this conversation right now too. Or did this guy not realise that.</p><p>“Why? Why does my work with a junkie concern you? And can all this not wait?” His assessment of Sherlock may have been a bit harsh, the man was trying to turn his life around after all, but right now Lestrade was too pissed off to care. Making an attempt to move past the stranger, he didn’t appreciate how the taller man began to follow behind him, quickly matching his stride so they were walking in step.</p><p>“Ah yes your interview.” So this guy did know and was just being an arse. Greg was starting to think Sherlock and this bloke must be related. “Best of luck Detective Sergeant. However I find it needs to be said that, should you to continue your relationship with Sherlock Holmes it could be a  very beneficial endeavour for you. An incentive could be made to you, either financially or the correct words could be whispered in the correct ears about a steady career progression for you. All I’d ask for in return is for updates on Sherlock. Nothing major, just how he is doing, where he’s goes, who he associates with. Things like that.” The other man shifted the umbrella in his hands as he spoke, moving it so as to inspect its handle. His voice remained calm and nondescript, as is were asking Lestrade nothing more than to pick a restaurant for dinner.</p><p>“So you want me to spy on him?” Greg snapped, whirling around to face the other man, getting in his face a little and keeping his voice low given their new proximity to the station’s entrance. There last bit of conversation having carried them the full length of the station’s car park. “Look I don’t want your money and I don’t want any help with my career. What I <em>want</em> is for Sherlock to stay clean. If I can help him with that then great. He already knows that if he uses again he loses his access to any and all of my cases. He stays clean for a few more months I’ll look at getting him access to the harder cases, maybe a few actives ones if I can spin it. Plus I got a friend who might let him have access to their morgue. One of his new doctors might even be able to put up with Sherlock for more than a few days, who knows? But what I won’t do is keep tabs on him for you! Now you try bribing me again and I’ll have you arrested for trying to bribe a police officer” With that Greg yanked open the station doors and stormed inside, not looking to see if the other man was following. He had less than a minute to calm himself down before his interview. <em>Perfect.</em></p><p>Glancing over at Donovan he noticed she’d witnessed the tail end of his argument with the mystery man. Raising an eyebrow in question at him, Lestrade just shook his head. Unable and unwilling to describe the conversation he’d just had. Closing his eyes he tried to block everything out as he took three deep breaths, trying to steady his breathing, before heading in the direction of the office the Deputy Chief Constable had set himself up in.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Bonus</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I wanted to have something with Sherlock’s reaction but it didn’t fit with the official story so here’s just a little something extra.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You threatened to arrest my brother” The voice came from behind him with no warning. Greg tried to conceal his reaction as the persons presence behind him made him jump. Turning round to glare at Sherlock he pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, tapping the ash into the metal wall mounted ashtray.</p>
<p>“So that’s who that was. And I did yeah.” He looked Sherlock up and down, trying to spot any resemblance between him and the man he’d met. He also noticed how much better the other man was looking. His face was filling out a bit more and it looked like he was standing a little straighter than when Greg had seen him last week.</p>
<p>“He wanted information on me and was going to pay you for it” Again it wasn’t a question.</p>
<p>“Yup”</p>
<p>“And you didn’t take the money”</p>
<p>“Course I didn’t take the bloody money! And I wasn’t joking about locking him up either, not if he tries something like that again.” A long silence spread between them before Lestrade broke it. Unable to keep his worries to himself any long. “ He wasn’t the reason I got this job was he?” Greg would be lying to himself if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind at least once. Sherlock smiled softly, a sight he couldn’t remember seeing before.</p>
<p>“No <em>Detective Inspector</em>, my brother didn’t have a hand in your promotion. That was all down to you.” Nodding, Lestrade breathed a sigh at that and a weight had hadn’t realised had settled over him suddenly lifted from his shoulders. “Though if you wanted to see my brother in handcuffs I’m sure all you’d have to do is ask him” Greg glared at Sherlock, not justifying his last comments with a response. His just let his head fall back in exasperation as he willed himself not to hit the other bloke.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I originally wanted to this to end with Mycroft actually being arrested but sadly the story took me in another direction.</p><p>Keep a look out for the second instalment in this series, staring the one and only, Molly Hooper!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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